Google Music is being tested, when will it launch?

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According to a number of music industry sources, Google has reached a point where its employees are testing a Google Music service. Such a service would allow users to buy and store music in the cloud, making the songs accessible from just about any device including your PC, tablet or smartphone via streaming.

Proof that Google Music exists was found a couple of weeks ago when a user on the XDA Developers forums did an update to the latest build of Android Honeycomb and a new music option appeared and started syncing with his collection.

iTunes has not moved to offer a cloud-based solution for streaming music yet, and that’s exactly what Google wants for its Music service. In both cases it’s new ground for the music publishers and therefore they are cautious of signing away their music to a large online database users can access forever.

The fact that Google is thought to be testing Google Music internally does suggest progress has been made, though. If the service is working, then music publishers can see exactly how it functions and come up with a deal they are happy with, or changes they require. The issue then becomes can a deal be struck that both Google and the music industry is happy with?

As CNET points out, the music publishers want Google to start selling music because then they have another large company to compete against iTunes. Just having iTunes dominating the market gives Apple a lot of power as it controls a big chunk of the music industry’s revenue. But Google would be a popular destination for music sales too, so the publishers would likely take a harder line with Apple in license negotiations knowing they have Google to fall back on and vice versa.

As a consumer, I think Google launching a streaming music service and cloud storage for my tunes is a great idea. I really don’t like the iTunes experience on my Windows PC, and as we know from using other services, Google keeps things web-based so they will work on any device. That’s what I think a lot of music listeners are after for their digital music libraries. There’s also the competition aspect keeping music prices low.

When Google Music launches seems to be in the hands of the publishers. If they won’t sign up to a licensing deal Google can never launch it as there won’t be any music on the service.